rams,any help would be great.

fishguy

i`m thinking about buying some rams for my 75 gallon planted fish tank.there are no other fish in the tank at this time.i have never kept these fish.can anyone give me some feedback on the keeping of rams.and some other good tank mates for them.will they eat any shrimp i plan to get?,or my plants? will they grow real big? thanks,paul

Cody

Rams will not get over 4". Most males stay around 3.5", while females around 3". They are very sensitive to water quality, espically water hardness. They need very soft water to thrive. Rams should not eat plants, and should be peaceful to most fish you plan on adding. I doubt they would eat any shrimp as well, but if there is like baby shrimp, then they cant refuse.

They also get very friendly, and some can recognize their owners. However, they usually only live for 2-3 years, which is short compared to plenty of other fish on the market. I do reccomend them, and you can build a very nice planted South American biotope around them when placed with the proper tankmates.

herefishy

And just how many rams do you keep, Cody? Many of the rams rams found in lfs's today are tank raised an will tolerate a large span of different degrees of pH and hardness. Sounds like you've been keeping them for years.

fishguy

thanks for the info.i looked at some on the web,and the bolivians rams look great.anyone kept these.thanks again,paul. oh...how much should i be prepared to pay for these?

Cody

Bob, my Dad has kept many Rams over the years, and he always made sure he had very soft water with a slightly acidic pH. But, I guess I shouldnt oppose the wise-one.

From what I have seen at my LFS's, Rams go for anywhere from $6 to $16 each. I guess it really depends on the demand in your area.

okiemavis

Bolivian rams aren't quite as colorful as blue rams, but they are a little hardier, and tend to be less shy. I have one female in my community and I really love her, she's so cute. The only fish she takes issue with is the gourami during feeding time, but she never hurts them, just chases them off. Of course it's a different story if you have breeding pairs, but they're cool fish all around.

Holly

I have 4 German Blue Rams in my tank I they have taken over as my fav fish..although my cories are a very close 2nd! I love them. They really do have personalities and I almost have one of them up at the surface of the water taking food from me. I don't think the tank bred ones are as sensative as wild ones. I have guppies in the tank that I can't seem to get rid of and they don't even bother the guppies which surprised me. The one male that's bigger likes to chase the other away from the aglae wafers. They really like algea waffers.

dubels

Tank raise ones are fine as long as you know they are locally bred. The ones with problems are the rams bred in Asian farms. In the farms they feed them with hormones to get them to exhibit brighter colors. I have one from an Asian farm and one that was wild caught. The one that was caught wildly is doing a lot better and has a more natural coloration to it. The one that was farm raised in Asia has been dealing with problems since they day I got it. It has a very dark blue hue to it nothing like the wild caught one. I am thinking about returning it after the ich treatment is done and getting another wild caught one.

*The best thing to do with them is to drip acclimate them because they are sensitive to PH changes. I stop running co2 in my tank because of them.

Lupin

Nicely said. I can attest to that as I live in Asia myself.

1077

Tank raised specimens of this species as others have noted willl be hardier than farm raised. sadly for me, tank raised blue rams are difficult to find in my part of the U.S.